And not for the first time in a medal presentation

The Guardian hamster stops running on its wheel to stand to attention and the tool crashes again. You know the drill anyway: Pendleton held it together until the very end of the national anthem and then burst into tears at the end of it.

A hug for Scott ...

Pendleton cycles halfway around the track to the British team's pit crew, poses once again with a Union Jack and then hugs assorted coaches and backroom team members, before burying her head in her hubby-to-be's shoulder. A backroom boffin and sports scientist for Great Britain, he's likely to be one of very few happy Aussies in London tonight. They're having a shockingOlympics by their own high standards.

Pendleton does her victory lap

Well, she's no choice really,; there are no brakes on those bikes so it's the only way you can slow down. She pulls into the trackside where she's handed a Union Jack, which she poses with briefly before handing it to somebody in the crowd.

Apologies for break in radio contact

I was trying to upload a photo of Geraint Thomas and everything crashed. I was also face-palming myself repeatedly for referring to Great Britain as England (grievous error now fixed). Mr Thomas wouldn't be too pleased with that. I'm not sure what it is about our new blogging tool, but as soon as it seems to automatically stop working properly just before or after important bicycle races: the men's road, the men's team sprint yesterday, the men's team pursuit today ...

It's medal presentation time

New Zealand step on to the podium to receive their bronze medals, showing no obvious outward signs of embarrassment at finishing behind Australia. Next up are the vanquished World Champions, who get a great reception, but look a bit miffed, it must be said. Next come Great Britain, who wave to all four corners of the Velodrome, a building with no corners, then receive their gold medals. All rise for the national anthem.

An email from Down Under

"Patrick from Australia here," writes Patrick from Australia there. "It's just gone 2am and I'm up late hoping to see us pull level with New Zealand on the medal tally. That a very depressing sentence to write."

Men's team pursuit final result

Mrs Wiggins dances in the stands

While Geraint Thomas cycles over to his missus to get a kiss and a cuddle, while his team-mates dismount from their bicycles and milk the applause of the crowd. To paraphrase Alan Partridge, that was liquid cycling, by men in Lycra who look a bit like cows on bikes. Very fast cows, mind. Edward Clancy, Geraint Thomas, Steven Burke and Peter Kennaugh have broken the world record twice this evening, and probably could have done it three times if they'd gone full gas in their opening match. Their average speed in the ifnal was 62.160 and all four cyclists finished together. Three-man Australia limped home a whopping 2.922 seconds behind - an eternity in top class track cycling.

Pete from the Manchester velodrome ducks out

And with three laps to go, the riders begin racing in earnest. The Russian sprints from back to front, but there's only ever going to be one winner of this race: Victoria P, take a bow. She wins at her leisure from France's Clara Sanchez and China's SHuang Guo. Hold on to your hats - Victoria Pendleton and Anna Meares are about to race each other for the very last time. Or at least until Pendleton comes out of retirement.

A snippet from the Washington Post

Barney ronay has just steeered me in the direction of this story, about some shenanigans in the Velodrome yesterday. "A spectator at the London Olympics has been arrested and fined after officials say he and two other people verbally abused the family of an Australian track cyclist," it says. "Police say the three were ejected from the London Velodrome on Thursday night. They are reported to have hurled abuse at the family of Kaarle McCulloch. She was bronze in the women’s team sprint with Anna Meares."

Interestingly ... or not, when myself and Guardian Olympics Ed Steve McMillan and I were getting a shuttle bus back from the Velodrome to the main media centre last night, Ms McCulloch was sitting right behind us on the bus, texting away with her bronze medal hanging around her neck and her posey of Olympic flowers beside her on the seat. I can assure everyone that we did not abuse her in anyway, we just kind of stared at her a bit ... like you do when you see an Olympic medallist sitting behind you on a double decker bus.

Women's team pursuit preliminary latest

This is the equivalent of the interval at the theatre: an opportunity for everybody to go to the loo, stock up on overpriced IOC-approved snacks and beverages and get back to their seats for the main events: the sharp end of the women's keirin and men's team pursuit. Team USA are whizzing around the track at the moment, the seventh of 10 teams particpating. Australia are next, then New Zealand and Great Britain will be whipping them in.

An email from the Far East

"It is past midnight in Hong Kong, but my husband and I are sitting here riveted by your live feed writing, write Zoe and Ian, putting their names in an order that pretty much confirms who wears the trousers in that particular relationship. "We have to get up early, please will you be less amusing for a while? Also, perhaps you can help us clarify...We were a bit confused about the difference between a velodrome and a velociraptor, but feel that both seem to make the cyclists faster."

Women's team pursuit preliminaries are go ...

The 10 teams are just doing their 3,000m spins around the track one by one. The eight teams recording the best times in qualifying shall be matched in tomorrow's first round in the order as follows: sixth v seventh, fifth v eighth, second v third and fastest v fourth. The winners of the last two matches above will contest the gold medal match. Representing Great Britain, who have yet to go out: Dani King, Laura Trott and Joanna Roswell.

An email from Tim Phillips ...

Which may help divert attention away from the fact that I didn't get the names of the three women who qualified from the second of the two keirin repechages - I'll bring you up to speed just as soon as somebody dressed in Olympic volunteer livery hands me a sheet of paper. "I love the keirin," writes Tim. "But I think it would be better if the guy on the bike wore a gorilla suit."

Women's keirin repechages: heat one

Women's keirin repechages are go ...

I won't bore you with the details, suffice to say there are two races with six riders in each. The first three riders in each will join Shunag Guo (China), Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania), Victoria Pendleton (Britain), Anna Meares (Australia), Ekaterina Gnidenko (Russia) and Kristina Vogel (Germany) in the second round, albeit suffering from the exertions of having completed a race extra.

61.455 km/h

Great Britain go through to the final against Australia

They finish 0.3 inside of the world record despite visibly holding back, beating Denmark by five seconds - at one stage it looked as if they might catch them, but they eased up in the last lap. Great Britain's time: 3:52.743. New Zealand: 3:56.442.

Men's team pursuit heat four: Great Britain v Denmark

The winners of this will face Australia in the gold and silver match. Ed Clancey, Geraint Thomas, Steven Burke and Peter Kennaugh set off in a race they're almost certain to win. After 2,000m, DGreat Britain have opened a gap of over two seconds.

Men's team pursuit heat three: Australia v New Zealand

The front man drops off each team with three laps of the track to go, after performing the "death pull" - putting in such a huge shift that they're unable to keep up after peeling off the front (it's the time of the third of the four men home that's counted). New Zealand's formation falls apart - there's huge gaps between their remaining three riders over the last lap. Australia win with a time of 3:54.317 - they'll contest the gold and silver match against Great Britain or Denmark. New Zealand's time of 3:56.442, which should get them into the bronze medal match.

Men's team pursuit heat one: Spain v Colombia

The Spanish prevail in 3:59.520, but being Brit-centric we don't really need to concern ourselves with them. NB The two winning teams in heats three and four (Australia v New Zealand and Great Britain v Denmark) will compete for the gold medal. The remaining six teams will be ranked according to their times from this round and will dispute the finals as follows: the two fastest will ride for bronze and fourth place. The next two fastest will ride the finals for fifth and sixth places. The final two teams will ride the final for seventh and eighth places.

Shuang Guo wins for China

She's followed home by the Lithuanian rider, Simona Krupeckaite. Our six fastest riders were: Shunag Guo (China), Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania), Victoria Pendleton (Britain), Anna Meares (Australia), Ekaterina Gnidenko (Russia) and Kristina Vogel (Germany). They'll advance straight to the second round, while the others will have to duke it out in the repechages to see who joins them. If it all seems a bit convuluted (and it is), the crucial thing to remember is that come final time, the six riders above will all have ridden one less race than the others, which will obviously put them at an obvious advantage.

Women's keirin: heat three

Olga Panarina (Belarus)

Shuang Guo (China)

Wai sze Lee (Hong Kong)

Hyejin Lee (Korea)

Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania)

Daniela Larreal (Venezuela)

The gun goes again, everybody gets startled again - you never get used to it. Around and around they go, the French peasant leading them in single file for five laps before he peels away and they fight out the race amongst themselves.

Pendleton beats Meares by a whisker

Queen Vic got on the Austraslian's wheel with three laps to go. The pair were well down the field but passed their rivals on the back straight in the last lap and the Brit got her nose in front right on the line.

I think Pendleton beat Meares ...

Women's keirin: heat two

Anna Meares (Australia)

Victoria Pendleton (Britain)

Fatehah Mustapa (Mas)

Willy Kanis (Netherlands)

Natasha Hansen (New Zealand)

Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine)

The starter shoots his pistol and the riders form an orderly queue behind the motrobike, which is being ridden by somebody dressed all in black, who looks the sort who should have a shopping basket on the front, possibly containing a baguette, some cheese and a nice bottle of red wine.

Kristina Vogel wins heat one ...

The German yomps home at her leisure ahead of Russia's Ekaterina Gnidenko, while my estimable colleague Barney Ronay muses that "this is just ridiculous". Britain may have caught the cycling bug in recent weeks, but I don't think we'll be seeing Ronay out on his penny farthing any time soon.

Women's keirin: heat one

Clara Sanchez (France)

Monique Sullivan (Canada)

Juliana Gaviria Rendon (Spain)

Kristina Vogel (Germany)

Ekaterina Gnidenko (Russia)

They set off riding in single file, being towed along by the bloke on the motorbike (well, more like a bicycle with an engine) who has the best job at the Olympics, in my humble opinion. The first two home in each heat will automatically qualify for the second round.

An idiot's guide to women's team pursuit

While the men's equivalent is contested over 16 laps (four kilometres) by a team of four riders, the women's version is competed over a shorter distance of 12 laps (three kilometres) by three riders. The objective is to cover the distance in the fastest time, or catch and over take the other team in a final. Riders in a team follow each other closely in line to minimise total drag and periodically, the lead rider peels off the front, swings up the track banking and rejoins the team at the rear.

The team pursuit starts with a qualifying round. Teams are seeded in the first round according to their qualifying times – the fastest team competes against the fourth fastest, second competes against third, fifth against eighth and sixth against seventh. The winners of the two heats between the top four teams advance to the finals; the remaining six teams are ranked according to their times from the first round, with the best two competing for bronze. Bewildered? Me too.

Some mood music ...

The man on the PA is currently encouraging all present at the Velodrome to "make some noise!", while simultaneously stressing that they should only do so at certain times, as the cyclists need to be able to hear the beeps counting down to the start of their races. They seem content enough with that - yesterday's mob were a noisey rabble who required a lot of shushing. Probably David Cameron and Prince Harry ...

Pendleton watch (an addendum)

She's back in the chair! I repeat, Victoria Pendleton is back in the chair! It's difficult to see her because she's changed into her kit and is leaning against a Union Jack backdrop, but it's definitely her. Sound the klaxon! Vicky Pendleton is sitting in a chair again.

Pendleton watch

I can exclsuively reveal that Victoria Pendleton was sitting slumped back, motionless in a chair wearing a white T-shirt, sunglasses and headphones in the British section of the "pits" earlier.

She did so for so long that myself and Barney Ronay, who is sitting alongside me in the press box (expect 800 words of amusing bike-related whimsy in tomorrow's newspaper) genuinely began to worry that she might be either asleep or dead.

I can report that she has since moved and the chair in which she had been sitting is now unoccupied. Ronay has now moved on to marvelling at the enormous size of particular cyclists thighs.

We can exclusively reveal that Britain's Victoria Pendleton sat motionless in a chair (not pictured) earlier this afternoon

An idiot's guide to men's team pursuit

The team pursuit starts with a qualifying round, which took place here yesterday. Teams are seeded in the first round according to their qualifying times – the fastest team competes against the fourth fastest, second competes against third, fifth against eighth and sixth against seventh.

The winners of the two heats between the top four teams advance to the finals; the remaining six teams are ranked according to their times from the first round, with the best two teams competing for bronze. After yesterday's qualifying round, here are the heats we can look forward to this afternoon.

Guardian cycling correspondent Will Fotheringham ...

Is sitting two down from me here in the press box, but is too embarrassed to ask me to draw your attention to this article he wrote about the boot camp undertaken by the British men's team pursuit boys during the winter.

An idiot's guide to the women's keirin

Ah, the keirin. Yes, it's that race in which all the riders follow some bloke on a motorbike around the track and then Sir Chris Hoy wins. Except as good as he is, he won't win today, because it's the women's keirin, starring Miss Victoria Pendleton, who'll be eager to make up for yesterday's disappointment, when herself and Jess Varnish were relegated from their heat of the women's team sprint and left the Velodrome empty-handed.

The 2012 Olympics are the first Games to feature women's keirin, which uses a motorbike as a race pace-setting vehicle (the pacer). From the start of the race until the pacer leaves the track, the cyclists vie strenuously against each other to capture and hold the best position. The last lap is a final spurt that decides the outcome. Having originated in Japan as an event staged largely to facilitate gambling, the key difference between Japanese and the Olympic keirin is the lack of an orderly line behind the motorbike in the Japanese version.

The event starts with heats (with repechages), with the best 12 riders progressing to the second round. The top six riders go through from the second round to the final, with the bottom six competing again for the 7-12th place rankings.

There are two gold medals up for grabs in the women's keirin and men's team pursuit, as well as qualifying for the women's team pursuit. After yesterday's disappointment, Great Britain's Victoria Pendleton gets the chance to atone for her messed-up changeover, when she goes head-to-head against her Australian rival Anna Meares in the women's keirin. Confusion reigned earlier this afternoon when Meares's name was conspicuous by its absence from the official start list, with her team sprint partner Kaarle McCullough appearing to have got the nod ahead of her. But I am assured by a chum of Ms Pendleton's that Meares, not McCullough, will definitely ride in the keirin for Australia today.

Others to watch in the action-packed keirin, where riders are paced by a mechanised derny to hit top speeds, include rising prospects Ekaterina Gnidenko from Russia and Kristina Vogel from Germanym who took silver and bronze respectively at this year's world track cycling championships.

The Men's team pursuit, one of the marquee events on the track, should provide an intense battle between Great Britain and the Aussies. The teams have a rivalry dating back a decade in the thrilling four-man, four-kilometre endurance race.

A busy day on the track also includes qualifying heats for the women's team pursuit, another new event for London 2012. Great Britain and Australia bring top top squads in their bid for gold, with Great britain having ridden to a world record 3:16.850. New Zealand, Canada and the USA could also feature in the shake-up.